In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, near a storefront advertising "free" cellphones, J.R. sat in an empty back stairwell and showed a reporter how he tries to avoid overdosing when he smokes crack cocaine.

News Medical

United States

Stimulant users are caught in fatal ‘fourth wave’ of opioid epidemic

In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, near a storefront advertising "free" cellphones, J.R. sat in an empty back stairwell and showed a reporter how he tries to avoid overdosing when he smokes crack cocaine. KFF Health News is identifying him by his initials because he fears being arrested for using illegal drugs.

Medical Xpress

Stimulant users are caught in fatal 'fourth wave' of opioid epidemic

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Media Bias/Fact Check

Ian Birkby

In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, near a storefront advertising “free” cellphones, J.R. sat in an empty back stairwell and showed a reporter how he tries to avoid overdosing when he smokes crack cocaine. KFF Health News is identifying him by his initials because he fears being arrested for using illegal drugs. It had been several hours since his last hit, and the chatty, middle-aged man’s hands moved quickly. In one hand, he held a glass pipe. In the …

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John K. Byrne

Michael Rogers (publisher)

Washington

District of Columbia

'People are going to die today': Inside the fourth wave of America's deadliest epidemic

The mix of stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamines with fentanyl is driving the opioid epidemic's 'fourth wave.' This mixture presents powerful challenges to efforts to reduce overdoses because many users of stimulants don't know they are at risk of ingesting opioids, so they don't take overdose precautions.

Philly Voice

Philadelphia

Philadelphia County

Pennsylvania

By Lynn Arditi, The Public’s Radio 
January 3, 2025  In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, near a storefront advertising “free” cellphones, J.R. sat in an empty back stairwell and showed a reporter how he tries to avoid overdosing when he smokes crack cocaine. KFF Health News is identifying him by his initials because he fears being arrested for using illegal drugs. It had been several hours since his last hit, and the chatty, middle-aged man’s hands move…

The Gilmer Mirror

Stimulant Users Are Caught in Fatal ‘Fourth Wave’ of Opioid Epidemic

In Pawtucket, near a storefront advertising “free” cellphones, J.R. sat in an empty back stairwell and showed a reporter how he tries to avoid overdosing when he smokes crack cocaine.

The Sun Chronicle

In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, a man known as J.R. demonstrated how he tries to avoid overdosing on crack cocaine while sitting near a storefront offering “free” cell phones. He tested his cocaine supply with a lighter to check for the presence of fentanyl, a potent opioid often mixed with drugs, and relied on the smell to determine safety. However, experts warn that this method is unreliable and dangerous. The opioid epidemic has evolved with a ne…

Dataemia

Nationwide, illicit stimulants mixed with fentanyl were the most common drugs found in fentanyl-related overdoses.

kffhealthnews.org

This article by Lynn Arditi, The Public’s Radio, first appeared in KFF Health News, republished with permission. 	Lynn Arditi, The Public’s Radio 
			January 3, 2025		  In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, near a storefront advertising “free” cellphones, J.R. sat in an empty back stairwell and showed a reporter how he tries to avoid overdosing when he smokes crack cocaine. KFF Health News is identifying him by his initials because he fears being arrested…

Cobb County Courier

(KFF Health News) – The mix of stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamines with fentanyl — a synthetic opioid 50 times as powerful as heroin — is driving what experts call the opioid epidemic’s “fourth wave.” The mixture of stimulants and fentanyl presents powerful challenges to efforts to reduce overdoses because many users of stimulants don’t know they are at risk of ingesting opioids, so they don’t take overdose precautions. The only way …

Stimulant users are caught in fatal ‘fourth wave’ of opioid epidemic

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